A novice philosopher turned equestrian…

Nothing Better

By the time I got to my grandmother’s house after college today I was feeling a bit cold and shivery shakey for some unknown reason. Some arse in a white van nearly ran me off the road on my way, which threw me a bit. But other than that I’ve had a perfectly alright day, so I really don’t know why I felt quite so peculiar.

After changing into civilised clothing that doesn’t make me smell like a stable, I came back downstairs to find Di-Di (that’s my grandmother) already making me a cup of tea. What a sweetie. And I can tell you, it was the best cup of tea ever. Nothing beats a good cuppa. I could feel it warming me from the inside out and I found myself starting to smile and relax after a few sips. Oh the things that tea can do. What wonderful wizardry.

Speaking of which…I’ve been watching trailers for the next Hobbit film. Eeeep so exciting. I love a bit of dramatic music and epic journeys and all of that. Bit of action. Oh yes. Totally not a real girl. Romance? Pfft. Give me a sword fight and some explosions anyday.

I rode the lovely Midge today. She’s such a sweet little horse, I love her. It was really nice to ride something that went so beautifully off my leg. She was a little slow at first, but I revved her up a bit and very quickly had some super transitions from her. In fact, she was almost too responsive at times, moving off my leg when I hadn’t even put it on! Bless her. I enjoyed her very much and hope I get to ride her again as I feel I could achieve a lot more with her. Today was about getting to know her a bit, working out how she goes etc. Emma had the group of us doing transition work on circles, focusing on using our back and core muscles to slow the horses down rather than relying on our reins. It was pretty good, and little Midgelet responded nicely when I stilled my seat and tightened my core. Such a good pony. Much love for her.

It was the first time I’ve sat on a horse in a few days but I’m pleased to say I didn’t really feel it too badly. My butt hurts still. But that’s because Emma made us do horrid stretches and stuff. Tillie and I sat in the middle of the ménage (still on horseback) casually massaging our own bums halfway through the lesson. Standard. I also rode with my stirrups a bit longer today than I usually do. I felt I needed to lengthen my legs a little and start developing a deeper seat now that I’m confident and secure in the saddle in general. There’s no point trying to enhance something like a dressage seat if you don’t feel comfortable enough in the saddle in the first place, and up until now I haven’t had the feeling of complete 100% security. Nowadays, the minute I get into the saddle I feel happy and completely relaxed. I don’t feel the need to shift around or adjust my legs etc. It just feels natural. Good stuff.

I have these moments where I actually feel like I’m doing it right. They’re pretty nice moments. Admittedly they don’t happen often, nor do they last particularly long. But sometimes, just sometimes, I actually feel right deep down inside that I could be good at this. I’m glad I got one of those moments today; I needed it. I’ve lost a lot of motivation recently, not sure why, it’s just been severely lacking. It hasn’t stopped me getting up and doing things particularly, I’ve just been feeling rather lacklustre. I’m sure I’ll be back to myself soon, it’s probably just the time of year. It always gets me down. I’ll find my grooveagain before too long, no fear.

Amy (she’ll be delighted to be in my blog for the second time) has spent the whole day going around telling everyone how she was in my blog the other day. Apparently it makes her famous. She also gave me a new name. I’m determined not to let it stick, but for the time being she is calling me “Renault Megane” or “Renault” for short. She started this at the beginning of our riding lesson which then had everyone else (why?!) trying out different ways of saying my name. Tillie went for the uber posh “Megaahn” whilst Emma tried out “Meg-ann” and Amy insisted on “Renault”.Hmmpht. Cue grumpy faced Megan.

This however, this has made my day. Watch this. If you do nothing elsetoday,watch this.

“…please don’t make the mistake of thinking the arts and sciences are at odds with one another. That is a recent, stupid and damaging idea. You don’t have to be unscientific to make beautiful art, to write beautiful things…You don’t need to be superstitious to be a poet. You don’t need to hate GM technology to care about the beauty of the planet. You don’t have to claim a soul to promote compassion.”

This man is on it. More people should think like this. These things should be said out loud more often.